pl see attachment

Refer attached letter and below

As an architect and as a resident in a nearby street to the proposal, I wish to make the following objections to the above proposal:

DGR 3. Built Form and Urban Design:
The Director General's Requirements included: `3. Built Form and Urban Design: Address the height, bulk and scale of the proposed development within the context of the locality.
Address design quality, with specific consideration of the ...open spaces and edges, primary elements, gateways, façade, rooftop, mechanical plant, massing, setbacks, building articulation, materials,..'
The proposal does not fulfil DGR 3. The scale, density and resultant massing of the proposed development is entirely inappropriate in respect of the existing established character of the area that is derived from low scale buildings with landscape settings, and generous street setbacks in the order of eight metres. The draft Hornsby Local Environmental Plan 2013 seeks to consolidate this established character, establishing a height limit for the adjacent and surrounding residential area of 8.5 metres and an FSR of 0.02:1.The scale, density and resultant massing of the proposed development greatly exceeds that envisaged by the draft HLEP 2013.
The proposed setback of 2.5 metres from Burdett Street does not respect the street setbacks established throughout the surrounding residential area, which generally are in the order of eight to ten metres, and the overscaling will exacerbated by this proposed forward alignment. There is insufficient modelling of the built form, little articulation, and no transitional element to ameliorate the excessive overscaling and the excessive height.
The minimal setback will provide an inadequate amount of spec for landscaping that might assist to ameliorate the excessive height and scale of the proposal by providing visual screening and a `green' buffer.
Both the Derby Street and Burdett Street ground floor frontages comprise inactive uses such as loading docks, fire stairs, Gas Room, Cold water Pump Room, Fire Sprinkler Pump Room, Records Room, Cleaning decontamination and Disposal Rooms etc, that are the most industrial in nature and the design resolution of such installations generally achieves a low aesthetic quality. These are at odds with the residential cottages that line both streets, opposite the site.

The Director General's Requirements included to `Built Form and Urban Design: Address design quality...including an assessment against the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Principles.'
The proposal does not fulfil DGR 3, in that the design quality does not provide a `safer by design' approach. The design quality does not provide a `safer by design' approach. Both the Derby Street and Burdett Street ground floor frontages comprise inactive uses that alienate the interior from the exterior streetscapes and provide no street surveillance, such as loading docks, fire stairs, Gas Room, Cold water Pump Room, Fire Sprinkler Pump Room, Records Room, Cleaning decontamination and Disposal Rooms etc. This is particularly problematic given the length of inactive frontage on both streets. The entrance to the building is via a recessed pathway, set well back from the street.
It is recommended that the proposal is redesigned to provide active uses located along the ground floor frontage at street level in Burdett Street and Derby Street. In order to achieve this, consideration should be given to relocating some of the existing community services that will be dislodged by the redevelopment, back into the building. The entrance should be located on the street frontage.

DGR 4. Amenity
*Assess solar access, acoustic impacts, visual privacy, servicing requirements (including but not limited to, waste management, loading zones, mechanical plant), view loss, overshadowing, lighting impacts and wind impacts. A high level of environmental amenity for land uses immediately adjacent and the surrounding residential areas must be demonstrated.
The proposal does not fulfil DGR 4, in that it will result in the overshadowing of Burdettt Street throughout the winter months, creating a dense solid shade and gloomy street character. Such solid shadow is inconsistent with the character of the surrounding area, where any shading cast from trees is dappled.

DGR 7. Transport and Accessibility (construction and operation)
The proposal does not fulfil DGR 7. There is an existing critical parking shortage and the proposal will result in increased shortage of street parking. Currently hospital related parking extends as far as Burdett and Collings Street. These streets have recently been decreased in width due to Hornsby Council `upgrading' works, despite written submissions from myself and others, that the reduced width results in a single lane width because of the intensity of hospital related parking. The proposal does not make use of the opportunity to excavate to provide underground carparking.
Non-car travel modes such as walking and cycling are not catered for, as there is only one location for a pedestrian crossing of Edgeworth David Street. This crossing may favour pedestrian route to Waitara Station, but not to Wahroonga Station. The large incline of Burdett Street, west of Palmerston Rd, discourages pedestrian movements towards Hornsby station. There are no cycling lanes leading to the hospital.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
To fulfil the Director General's Requirements and to ensure a higher level of contextual response to the surrounding residential neighbourhood, it is imperative that the proposal be redesigned as follows:
1. The massing of the proposed building as it fronts Burdett Street should be further articulated and modelled to provide a finer grain that more closely responds to the residential lot subdivision pattern.
2. The Burdett Street setback should be increased to a minimum of 10 metres to respond to the characteristic alignments of the surrounding residential area and to provide a landscape setting that is an integral part of the established character of the area. This setback will also decrease the dense overshadowing of Burdett Street.
3. Such a setback provides space for a densely planted visual buffer. This landscape zone with should comprise indigenous plant species of a range of heights to ensure the visual screening is dense at all levels, from low to high.
4. To provide a `safer environmental design' active uses should be located along the ground floor frontage at street level in Burdett Street and Derby Street. In order to achieve this, consideration should be given to relocating some of the existing community services that will be dislodged by the redevelopment, back into the building. The entrance should be located on the street frontage.
5. Consideration should also be given to locating inactive uses such as record storage and cleaning underground.
6. To alleviate the already existing critical parking shortage consideration should be given to provision of underground carparking.
7. To encourage non-car travel modes such as walking and cycling, a further pedestrian crossing of Edgeworth David Road should be provided, particularly one near Jubilee Street to create a link to Wahroonga Station. Cycling lanes should be created along Edgeworth David and Palmerston Road.

Yours faithfully

Margaret Desgrand

PDF of my submission has been attached. I object to some components of the project.

I am a resident of Jubilee St and the proposed development is less than 200 metres from my home.

I am extremely concerned about the effect that the development will have on the traffic flow in Jubilee St and also around the hospital as a result of the development,as well as parking issues which already have created hazardous situtations in this street.

Suitable solutions must be found to ensure that residential areas are safe and trafiic slows down or is stopped altogether in this residential street. It is not only a problem residents in Jubilee St, but the general area including implications of traffic flow on and entry to the hospital. Please refer to my letter in the attachment below.

I do not object to the development of the building, but I object to what it will do to worsen the already intolerable and dangerous traffic flow in Jubilee St Wahroonga and want evidence that this has been considered!

We have concerns that there is insufficient on-site car parks to accommodate visitors, staff, patients & workmen etc. to the new building. The area around the development is already experiencing problems with car-parking availability. The consequences of this are that these people will have to park in surrounding streets - Spurgin Street being one. We have already noticed an increase in vehicles parked in our street so additional vehicles on top of this will be problematic. It should be noted that the recent curb & gutter work on Spurgin Street has resulted in the road being narrowed, particularly at the junction with Jubilee Street. Therefore when vehicles are parked on both sides of the street it is difficult at times for even one car to get through.

Jubilee Street is already a very busy road that at peak times experiences traffic difficulties, especially at the junction with Edgeworth David Avenue because of the badly designed one-way speed humps, which people regularly queue over making it a very dangerous intersection. This will only get worse with the increase in traffic caused by new visitors to the development, that are also unfamiliar with this road. Council needs to make it a no right hand turn from Jubilee Street into Edgeware David Avenue during peak periods to prevent accidents and congestion as it is. More traffic and parked cars are going to make this street a bottle-neck.

Please make more on-site parking available for the new development, get rid of the one-way speed humps (make it two-way humps) and make it a no right hand turn from Jubilee Street into Edgeware David Avenue during peak periods. This will make the area a lot safer for residents and visitors with the increased traffic the new development will bring into our area.

The proposed plans show a glass facade and courtyard on the western side of the building. I would suggest that these elements be moved to the eastern side of the building instead, for several reasons:

1. The current orientation receives the harsh afternoon sun. Placing the glass and courtyard on the east side would receive the morning sun into the building which is much more pleasant, especially for patients wanting to use the courtyard space, as well as being more ecologically friendly.

2. Placing these elements on the eastern side of the building greatly reduces the voluminous bulk of the building along the Derby Rd elevation. This would effectively change the appearance along Derby Rd from one huge building to two smaller buildings joined by a glass bridge, and would be much more sympathetic with the neighbouring residences.

3. If the glass facade cannot be moved to the eastern side of the building, I notice that the internal part of the building contains a central void that is only two storeys high, whilst the perimeter is four storeys high. Allowing that void to run all the way through to Derby Rd, or building the upper two floors adjacent to it as a glass atrium, would again both reduce the bulk of the eastern elevation into two smaller rectangular buildings and allow more morning light to penetrate the building.